
The DIY guitar that shook the world: Eddie Van Halen's Frankenstein.
The simple circuit that rocked the world.
Hello! This month we're going to explore a very unique wiring created by a guy from the Netherlands named Edward Lodewijk Van Halen, better known as Eddie Van Halen. The development of his playing style is inextricably linked to his famous DIY guitar, nicknamed Frankenstein, which Eddie put together out of factory-second Charvel parts in the 1970s. The result was one of the most unique guitar designs ever, both electronically and cosmetically.
Frankenstein's ash body and maple neck were produced by Wayne Charvel, one of the godfathers of so-called "Super Strat" guitars, which are characterized by their use of humbuckers, simple wiring, and sophisticated tremolo hardware. The body Eddie bought had HSS routing, and he was fascinated by the idea of using a bridge humbucker for a Gibson-like tone. Eddie installed a PAF humbucker from his ES-335 and cannibalized the tremolo unit from his Strat. (The Floyd Rose unit was added later.) The pickup was installed at a slight angle to compensate for the differing string spacings of the Fender tremolo and the Gibson humbucker. Later he replaced the PAF with a Seymour Duncan humbucker.
The cosmetics.Ā
This guitar was repainted several times. Initially Eddie painted it black, applied masking tape strips to the dry paintjob, and then painted it white. (He also stuck a Gibson decal on the headstock.) For a while, he switched to a guitar nicknamed the Bumblebee for its flashy black and yellow paintjob. This guitar didn't perform as well, so he switched back to Frankenstein, but not before re-taping the body and adding a coat of red bicycle paint.
In order to mislead companies trying hard to sell "EVH guitars," Eddie installed a red single-coil pickup in the neck position, but it wasn't connected to the circuit.
Other visual "upgrades" were a quarter coin screwed into the body to fill a gap between the body and the tremolo. He also added reflectors on the rear of the body and two hook-eyed screws as substitute strap buttons. A strip of double-sided masking tape served as a pick holder.
Eddie also changed the neck pickup often and tried several different tremolo systems. He originally made his own pickguard from a vinyl record, using the lower part of a standard Strat pickguard as a template. He later replaced this with a similar part made from regular black/white/black pickguard material.
The electronics. Eddie drilled all the standard Strat holes into his DIY pickguard, but added only a single 500k audio volume pot topped by a standard white Strat tone knob, leaving the other holes unpopulated. This is one of the simplest circuits ever: a single humbucker connected to a volume control and an output jack! This simple wiring supports Eddie's trademark tone very well, and companies like Charvel and ESP have also used such minimal controls to get a pure sound. With only a volume control, you're just one step away from wiring the pickup directly to the output jack. This provides a lot of high-end definition, perfect for Eddie's tapping techniques.
Fig. 1: The original Van Halen wiring. Diagram courtesy of Seymour Duncan.
To get close to Eddie's tone, use a Strat with a bridge humbucker, wiring it to a single 500k audio volume pot, as shown in Fig. 1. (The color scheme shown applies to Seymour Duncan pickups. Pickup wire colors vary between brands.)
For a humbucker with two-conductor cables, the hot wire goes where the black wire appears in the diagram, and the outer shield goes to ground (indicated in the diagram by the bare and green wires taped together).
Before we talk mods, a funny side note: In order to mislead companies trying hard to sell "Van Halen guitars," Eddie installed a red single-coil pickup in the neck position, but it wasn't connected to the circuit. Eddie even mounted a standard 3-way switch in the middle pickup rout, but it too was unconnected. This is a prime example of the famous Dutch sense of humor.
Possible mods. With such a simple circuit, mods are always possible. Here are some suggestions for improved flexibility:
- Add a standard tone control like on a Telecaster. Experiment with both 250k and 500k resistances and try various tone-cap values."
- If you use a humbucker with four-conductor wiring, you can add a coil-cut switch (or replace the volume pot with a push/pull or push/push pot). This provides a single-coil tone from the humbucker in split mode.
Fig. 2: This mod adds a fixed tone control and a kill switch. Diagram courtesy of guitarwiring.blogspot.com.
Fig. 2 shows a clever and versatile mod for any heavy axe. It has a fixed tone control, plus a kill switch for stunning stuttering effects (and to shut down the guitar when not playing). That way, you can get warmer distortion tones if needed. Choose your preferred cap value. (I wouldn't use the indicated .047 µF cap myself.)
That's it! Next month we'll explore a much more complex mod. Until then, keep on modding!
[UpdatedĀ 9/9/21]
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PG's demo master quickly (and easily) drops in an H-S-S setup into his 1994 40th Anniversary Stratocaster that needed help. Find out what happens when gets his first taste of active pickups.
EMG SL20 Steve Lukather Signature Pre-wired Pickguard with 3 Pickups - Black Pearl
SL20 Steve Lukather Pre-wired PG - Blk PearlBarry Littleās onstage rig.
How you want to sound and what makes you happy are both highly subjective. When it comes to packing and playing gear for shows, let those considerations be your guide.
I was recently corresponding with Barry Little, aPG reader from Indiana, Pennsylvania, about āthe Oneāāthat special guitar that lets us play, and even feel, better when itās in our hands. We got talking about the gear we bring to gigs, and Barry sent me the photo that appears with this column.
āIām mostly old school and take quite the amp rig, and usually two or three Strats or āsuper strats,ā plus some Teles,ā he wrote. āSome are in different tunings.ā Barry also has a rack, built with famed guitar-rig designer Bob Bradshawās help, that he says holds a Bad Cat preamp bearing serial number one. For his ā70s/ā80s rock outfit and his country band, this covers the waterfront.
I love Barryās rig; it looks awesome! So ⦠why do I feel guilty about the substantial amount of gear I take to gigs where my five-piece band will be playing a concert-length set? Onstage, my setup looks fantasticāat least to me. Itās the gear Iāve always wanted. But packed inside cases and ready to load into the Honda Odyssey with a rooftop carrier that all five of us and our instruments travel in for away dates ⦠it seems excessive. Currently, I take three guitars: my customized reissue Fender Esquire āDollycaster,ā my Zuzu one-off Green Monster, and a Supro Conquistador, plus a 1-string electric diddley bow made from a crawfish-boiling pot. They start every show in open G octave (DāGāDāGāDāG), open D, standard tuning, and A, respectively. Thereās also a Sony GLXD6+ wireless, and a pedalboard with 13 effects stomps, a tuner, and two power boxes, along with a Brown Box. That board is the launchpad for the stereo signal that runs into two Carr 1x12 combos: a Vincent and a Telstar. In addition, thereās a big black bag with spare cables, fuses, capos, strings, extension cords, microphones, straps, duct tape, and just about anything else you might need. After all that, miraculously, there is also room for my bandmatesāanother guitarist, bass, drums, and theremināand their gear, plus light luggage.
I admit thatās a lot, but it used to be moreāat least by the pound. In the late ā90s and early 2000s, I often played through two Marshall 4x12s with a Mesa/Boogie Duel Rectifier Trem-O-Verb on one and a ā72 Marshall Super Lead atop the other. And before that, it was the Marshall with a 4x12 plus a ā66 Fender Twin Reverb. I kept a waist back-support belt in the van, but spent a decent chunk of that era living with regular back pain.
āI admit thatās a lot, but it used to be moreāat least by the pound.ā
Where am I going with this? Besides a desire for you to absolve me of my guilt, I feel like all of this gear is ⦠um ⦠necessary? Itās the recipe for the sound I want to hear, for the versatility of the material, and for me to play from my happiest placeāonstage in the middle of a glorious stereo field of my own making. Itās not really about gear and itās not about somebody elseās definition of practicality. Itās about joy. Ideally, you should be able to bring whatever gives you joy to a gig. Period.
Sure, naysayers will yap that after a guitar, a cable, and an amp, nothing else is necessary. And on a certain misguided, intolerant level, they are right. We can all play a show with just the basics, but I, for one, donāt want toāunless maybe itās a solo gig. Neither did Jimi Hendrix. There is a universe of tones out there waiting to be discovered and explored. There are improvisational paths that only a pedalboard can suggest. (Of course, if youāre playing a small stage, traveling in too tight quarters, or claiming turf that impinges on bandmates, those considerations apply. āBe kindā is a good rule of thumb for life, including band life.)
Remember, the naysayers are not in your bones, and onlyyour bones know what you need and want. Donāt let the voicesāeven in your own headānag you. (I, too, must take this advice to heart.) Bring whatever you want to bring to gigs, as long as you can get it there. Do it guiltlessly. Have fun. And listen to your bones.Kim Deal on Failure: āThereās a Sweetness to Seeing Somebody Get Their Ass Kicked"
While creating her new solo record, Kim Deal was drawn to exploring the idea of failure.
The veteran musician and songwriter steps into the spotlight with Nobody Loves You More, a long-in-the-making solo record driven by loss, defeat, and friendship.
While Kim Deal was making her new album, she was intrigued with the idea of failure. Deal found the work of Dutch artist Bas Jan Ader, who disappeared at sea in 1975 while attempting to sail by himself from the U.S. to England in a 13-foot sailboat. His boat was discovered wrecked off the southern coast of Ireland in April 1976, 10 months after Ader departed the Massachusetts coast. Aderās wife took one of the last photos of him as he set off on the doomed journey from Chatham Harbor: Ader, wearing a blue tracksuit and a bright orange life jacket cinched around his neck, is beaming.
Deal isnāt smiling on the cover of Nobody Loves You More, her new album, but the art bears some similarities: Deal is floating on a platform in an expanse of gentle, dark blue waves, accompanied only by a few pastel-colored amps, her guitar, a stool, and a flamingo. Itās an unmistakably lonely image, but for Deal, failure doesnāt mean loneliness. Itās not even necessarily a bad thing.
āI mean, at least something magnificent was tried, you know?ā says Deal. āAt least there was something to fail. Thatās an endearing thing. I think thereās a sweetness to seeing somebody get their ass kicked, because they were in it. It warms my heart to see that, just people getting out there. Maybe it gives me the courage and confidence to try something. Itās okay if I get my butt kicked. At least youāre trying something.ā
āI think thereās a sweetness to seeing somebody get their fucking ass kicked, because they were fucking in it.ā
Nobody Loves You More feels at least a little like Van Aderās journey: an artistic project so long in the making and so precious to its creator that theyāre willing to break from all conventions and face the abject terror of being judged by the world. That might seem like nothing new for Deal, whoās played music professionally for over 35 years, first with Pixies, then with the Breeders. But this LP marks her first proper solo album under her own nameāa thought that mortified her for a long time. (āI like rock bands,ā she says.) Even when she recorded and released what could be called āsoloā music, she released it under a pseudonym. Initially, it was to be Tammy and the Amps. āI still was so uncomfortable, so I created Tammy and the Amps,ā explains Deal. āIām Tammy, who are my band? Itās the amplifiers downstairs in my basement. But the Tammy thing sort of got on my nerves so I just dropped it, so it was called the Amps.ā She also assembled a band around that concept and released Pacer under the Ampsā name in 1995.
The cover art for Nobody Loves You More echoes the doomed last voyage of Dutch artist Bas Jan Ader.
This new record hums with the soft-loud energetic alchemy that defines much of Dealās previous works. The opening title track is a slow, romantic strummer with string arrangements, while āCoastā is faintly ska-indebted with horns and a ragged Blondie chord progression. āCrystal Breathā gets weirder, with distorted drums, synthy bass, and a detuned, spidery guitar lead. āDisobedienceā and āBig Ben Beatā continue the darker and heavier trajectories with fuzzy stompers interspersed with ambient, affective interlude tracks like āBats in the Afternoon Sky.ā Itās a patient, sensitive, and unmistakably scrappy record.
Some of the songs on Nobody Loves You More are as up-close and personal as solo records get. One in particular thatās drawn attention is āAre You Mine?,ā a sleepy-eyed, lullaby ballad. At first listen, it could be taken for a love song. (In fact, Deal encourages this interpretation.) But itās a song about her mother, for whom Deal cared in her home while she died from Alzheimerās. The song title comes from a gut-wrenching moment.
āI was in the house, she doesnāt know my name,ā explains Deal. āSheās still walking, she can form words, but she doesnāt know what a daughter is or anything. She passes me in the hallway, stops, grabs my arm and says, āAre you mine?ā She doesnāt know my name, she doesnāt know who I am, but there was a connection. I knew she was asking if I was her baby. I said, āYeah, mama, Iām yours.ā Iām sure five seconds later, she forgot that conversation even happened. It was just a flicker, but it was so sweet. To have her not see me in so long, and then for one brief second, be recognized in some capacityā¦. She was such a sweet lady.ā
Dealās mother wasnāt the only loss that went into this collection of songs. Her father passed, too, after a prolonged illness. āMy dad was this big bravado sort of personality and watching them get extinguished a little bit every day⦠I donāt know,ā she says. āThey both died at home. Iām very proud of that.ā But writing āAre You Mine?ā wasnāt painful for Deal; she says it was a comforting experience writing the gentle arpeggio on her Candelas nylon-string acoustic.
Deal assembled the bulk of Nobody Loves You More in her Dayton, Ohio, basement, recording with Pro Tools and a particularly pleasing Electrodyne microphone preamp. (Some of the songs date back more than a decadeāversions of āAre You Mine?ā and āWish I Wasā were initially recorded in 2011 and released as part of a series of 7" singles.) Deal recorded a good part of the recordās drums, bass, and guitar from home, but other contributions came in fits and spurts over the years, from old faces and new. Her Breeders bandmates, including Mando Lopez, Jim MacPherson, Britt Walford, and sister Kelley Deal, all pitched in, as did Fay Milton and Ayse Hassan from British post-punk band Savages, and the Raconteursā Jack Lawrence.
Kim Deal cared for her parents in their Dayton, Ohio, home until their passing, an experience that colors the music on her new solo record.
Photo by Steve Gullick
Kim Deal's Gear
Guitars
- '90s FenderĀ Stratocaster
- '70s goldtop GibsonĀ Les Paul
- Candelas nylon-string acoustic
Amps
- Marshall JCM900
- 4x12 cabinet
- Kalamazoo combo
Strings & Picks
- .011-gauge strings
- Dunlop Tortex Standard .60 mm
One day, ex-Red Hot Chili Peppers guitarist Josh Klinghoffer stopped by the studio to see what Deal was working on. He listened to āWish I Was,ā and scrambled together a lead idea. Deal kept the part and expanded it over time, leading to Klinghofferās writing credit on the record.
Deal used her trademark red ā90s Fender Stratocaster HSS along with a ā70s goldtop Gibson Les Paul for most of the electric work, pumped through either her long-time Marshall JCM900 or a tiny vintage Kalamazoo combo. Deal has never been a gearheadāat one point on our video call, she uses a tooth flosser as a pick to demonstrate some parts on her Candelas. āKelley is a pedal person,ā she says. āIām not doing leads. Iām just doing a rhythm that needs to sound good.ā
āI donāt think Iām taking it very well still, actually, or Iām a sociopath because I donāt even talk about [Steve Albini] in the past tense.āOver the years, Dealās sonic thumbprint has been tied up in the work of her good friend and frequent collaborator Steve Albini, the producer, engineer, and musician who died unexpectedly in May 2024. (Deal quips, āSteveās the lead character in my own life.ā) Albini and Deal began working together in 1988, on Pixiesā debut LP Surfer Rosa. Their friendship continued over decadesāDeal even performed at Albiniās wedding in Hawaii, for which he gifted her a ukuleleāand the final sessions for Nobody Loves You More were under Albiniās watch. His parting hasnāt been easy.
āI got a text: āCall me,āā remembers Deal. It was a mutual friend, telling Deal that Albini had passed. āHe told me and I just said, āYouāre absolutely wrong. That didnāt happen.ā I donāt think Iām taking it very well still, actually. I donāt even talk about him in the past tense. I say, āWhat he likes to do is this.ā I never think, āWhat Steve used to like to do.ā My head never goes there. I wanted to record a song that wasnāt working and I said, āI need to do it from top to bottom at Albiniās.ā Thatās not going to happen.ā
YouTube
Along with Rob Bochnik and Spencer Tweedy, Kim Deal plays two tracks from Nobody Loves You More for a holiday fundraiser in November 2024 in Chicago.